The Afflecks and Mark Ruffalo

Jennifer Garner was in Virginia for a few days last week to visit family and friends. Then she joined Ben Affleck in Detroit to celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary on Sunday. Both PEOPLE and US Weekly have details about their dinner at Bistro 82 although PEOPLE didn’t bother mentioning what US included, which is that the couple was drinking red wine. And that’s not new. We’ve seen him drinking at award shows too, with photographers around. It’s like everyone’s forgotten he’s been to rehab for alcohol abuse.

Anyway, here’s Garner arriving back in LA after her weekend away. Meanwhile, even though many outlets picked it up, no one seems to be paying a lot of attention to the remarks Mark Ruffalo made with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live about his friendship with her and how Ben might have affected it.

Ruffalo and Garner worked together on 13 Going On 30. And on the show, a viewer asked whether or not they still keep in touch. It’s been hard to find a clip of the interview because of stupid geo-blocking (I’ve included a partial one below). According to Ruffalo:

“(Garner and I) had a great time together and I think we would (still talk) but then Ben came on the scene and that was the end of that…”

Then everyone laughed.

And then Andy made a joke about how he heard that Ben doesn’t allow Jen to have male friends – just a joke. But Mark, he shrugged, and said he couldn’t confirm or deny it.

Some of you who’ve written to me about this think that Mark may have just been playing. Strangely though, even PEOPLE, the ass-kissing celebrity favourite, reports that:

“Instead of laughing it off, Ruffalo just shrugged, and said he couldn't confirm or deny the statement.”

Normally, when celebrities are just goofing around, they take a moment to make it clear – hey, we’re just having fun here, I’m not being serious, don’t take me seriously. And Ruffalo…didn’t. He just let it sit there, leaving it open to interpretation. Which is noteworthy because, well, Mark Ruffalo just isn’t that guy. He is the nicest, he is the sweetest, he doesn’t have a prick reputation. So if he’s not going out of his way to clarify that he’s just bullsh-tting, now I’m wondering if he just doesn’t like Ben Affleck. You remember what I wrote recently about Ben Affleck’s friendships? Like, who are his friends beyond Matt Damon? If Matt’s not around to make his friends like Ben Affleck, who are Ben Affleck’s friends?